It's a Girl Thing
by LoverlyLit
Summary: In which Kai talks to inanimate objects and Jinora recieves flowers. Kainora. (No, not a period fic)


**AN: Saw this on officialkainora's tumblr a billion weeks ago. Suggested by kuno-chan, also on tumblr. :3 It was too cute to pass up.**

**So basically I'm assuming Book 3 took place in summer? I guess? So this would be late summer. Which is perfect because where I live late summer is gorgeous. You get these breezes, and the flowers are still in bloom, and you can just sit in a garden and get that cool wind and breathe in the scent of all the flowers and it's sheer perfection I love it**

I.

"Look at this, Jin," Kai commented, rolling his body further down the hill to point at a small blue blossom. Jinora jogged to catch up with him.

"It's pretty," she smiled. "I didn't know you liked flowers."

Kai felt his face go hot. "I don't. Flowers are a girl thing. I just thought you would like it, because, you know, you're a girl."

Jinora giggled and sat down next to him. "It's okay if you do. I think that's cute."

"_No!_ I just –" he protested, his cheeks probably giving him away. So, with as much tact as ever, he reached out and plucked the little blue flower, shoving it into Jinora's hand. "Here. Girl thing."

She twirled it around in her fingers, her cheeks a little pink. "That's sweet of you, Kai."

Kai didn't really know what to say to that. Thank you? No. He didn't really mean to give it to her in _that way._ But it made her happy, so ... "It's the same color as your tattoos," he observed, eager to change the subject. Jinora looked down at her arms and giggled.

"Yeah. I guess it is."

And so, when the sun finally started to dip in the sky, Jinora announced that it was probably getting close to dinner. They walked back up to the temple, finishing their discussion on whether or not there were official bison-naming ceremonies (Jinora insisted there weren't, but he suspected a secret, ancient conspiracy of elaborate certifications and stuff like that.) Kai tried not to bring any attention to the fact that Jinora never let go of her little flower, holding it securely in both hands like a tiny bouquet.

II.

The next time Kai swallowed his masculinity to pick another flower, he was on top of a roof.

Jinora, as much as she seemed to like the first flower, didn't mention it again. Once they'd gotten back, she'd slipped away to "set it somewhere safe" and it was never to be seen again. In fact, Kai didn't know if it even _existed_. Maybe it was all a dream. Or maybe she had a secret garden in her closet. Or, for that matter, maybe she just threw it away.

Naturally, that didn't stop him from finding another one.

To be fair, he wasn't looking for any flowers. He wasn't even doing anything of any productivity except skipping lessons. Sure, he liked airbending, and he hated leaving Jinora by herself, but Air Nomad history wasn't exactly his thing. Walking on the roof trying to stay unnoticed, well, that was right up his alley. He was just hopping around on one of the older, out-of-the-way towers when something caught his eye.

Kai nearly fell off the molding shingles in his attempt to land near the greenery without falling straight on it and quite possibly crushing the nicest little plant he'd seen so far. It was an arching vine crawling along the roof, sprouting tiny yellow blooms that looked a bit like bells. He laughed to himself and sat down gingerly. Kai poked at one of the buds suspiciously. "I think Jinora would like you guys," he murmured. "She likes this shade of yellow the best." But then, he thought, if Meelo or one of the other guys caught him with a flower, it would mean endless harassment. Then again, everybody was at lessons. "Whatdya say, friend? Do I risk it?"

The flower bounced in the breeze. Kai took that as a nod and ripped the flower from its perch. "Sorry I had to kill you, buddy," he whispered as he made his way back. "I swear, no more flower killing."

III.

Kai did a lot of flower killing in two weeks.

Turns out, Jinora liked flowers. A lot. More than he thought she would, and that was the only reason he picked them for her. Just to cheer her up. It's not liked he actually had an _interest_ in flowers. That was a girl thing. It's not like he found anything compelling in the way different flowers grew due to their positions, and how they were pollinated differently. And definitely the way a color of a certain flower depended on the soil wasn't cool at all. Whatsoever. _Of course not._

But the fact remained that he had no idea where the flowers went. He gave them to Jinora. She smiled. She thanked him. She said he was sweet. She held the flower like a priceless glass sculpture. And then it disappeared. Once he'd wandered into her room to find her and noted she'd placed a rather large one in a vase on her desk. Other than that, a dozen little flowers had just completely left the world without explanation.

"Well," Kai greeted her smugly, dropping off of the roof to stand next to her. "Look who else decided to skip class."

Jinora rolled her eyes and turned back to her book. "I'm not skipping class. I'm taking a professional leave of absence today."

"There's no such thing," he complained, leaning against the tree next to her her. She glanced up, narrowing her eyes at the sun escaping through the branches.

"I'm a master," she reminded him. "You're not. So hush."

Kai groaned. "Ugh. You got me. So, what'll it take for you to pardon my rudeness?"

Jinora kept her eyes on her book and smirked. "Let me think." Before she could say anything more, a tiny pink cluster of petals floated down, landing softly on the page and interrupting her reading. Her lips curved up into a soft smile as she turned it between her fingers. "Kai, it's so pretty."

"I know," he answered, grinning.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"You're so sweet, Kai."

"I know that, too," he replied, and she shook her head, giggling. "What book do you have?"

Jinora was still studying the flower. "Oh, you know. A book."

He dropped to his knees so he could sit beside her. "No, _really_?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jinora bring the flower to the tip of her nose. Very carefully, she held it back out for a final look. Kai didn't dare blink in case he missed something. His heart stopped pounding momentarily when she slowly set the flower down next to her feet. And left it there.

Pretty anticlimactic.

Jinora lowered her book and turned to him. "So what've you been doing today?"

He shrugged and played with a blade of grass. "Eh. Avoiding your dad. That's pretty much it."

She giggled. "Well, you've done a good job so far."

"I know, right? I mean, I got out of that test the other day," he boasted. "Bet you couldn't do that."

"Oh, really?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, really."

"Maybe I could just pass the test and get it over with in the first place."

Kai narrowed his eyes. "You're no fun, you know that?" She laughed, and a rather harsh summer wind shoved him against the trunk of the tree. Jinora just stood up against it, laying her book down beside him, and stretched.

"I'm going to get some food," she told him. "Do you want anything?"

He paused. "Actually, yeah, I'm kind of hungry."

She smiled. "Okay. I'll be back in a second. Watch my book."

"Thank you," he called after her, leaning further into the tree and glancing dejectedly at the book still laying open next to him. "Guess it's just us, now, huh?"

It didn't answer, thankfully.

Kai poked at the pages. Squinting at the trees in the distance, he noted another breeze that was inching its way over. Hurriedly, he ran his fingers through the overgrown grass. "Where's Jinora's bookmark?" he muttered. "She'll kill me if she loses her page." After a couple seconds of searching - no, that was a nut, and he didn't want to know what that was - his fingers hit against it. He was about to set it on the open page when he noticed something specifically suspicious about it. Instead, keeping the page propped open with his finger, he somehow made it through the next two minutes.

"I brought you some mangos," Jinora announced, holding the bowl out to him. "I hope that's okay."

Kai stared at her.

"Um," she shifted, her smile now awkward. "Did I miss something?"

He held the bookmark up, shoving it near her nose. "What's this?"

Jinora blinked and flushed. "What? It's just ... my bookmark."

"This is what you've been doing with the flowers I've given you?" Kai brought his hand back down, studying the little dried blossoms.

"Well, yeah," Jinora set the bowl down and sat opposite him. She held her hand up to her ear as if to tuck her hair back, but then she must've remember she didn't have any hair, because her hand dropped back down. "My mom has one like that, made with flowers my dad had brought her. She helped me make it."

"Oh," Kai said simply.

"You're not mad, are you?"

He shook his head. Inside, he was ecstatic. Jinora hadn't thrown the flowers away. She'd kept them. "How long are they gonna be like that?"

"Forever, I guess," she shrugged, and he raised his eyebrows. "I mean, that's a sealant. That's why it's shiny, right? It'll stay like that for a long, long time."

"Ah," Kai answered, rubbing the bookmark between his thumb and forefingers. It was bumpy yet smooth at the same time. Involuntarily, he felt heat rise to his cheeks. "I guess you'll have to use this for your whole life, then."

Jinora's cheeks turned pinker as well. "I guess I will."


End file.
